SEWARD, Neb. – A pair of student-athletes represented the 2017 record breaking Concordia University men’s soccer program on the list of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes released on Friday (Dec. 2). Bulldogs Derek Eitzmann and Mickey Waldron are the program’s latest Scholar-Athletes. A junior from Lincoln, Neb., Eitzmann is majoring in chemistry. Also a junior from Lincoln, Waldron is majoring in biology and chemistry.
In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status. A total of 492 men’s soccer student-athletes across the nation were named 2017 Scholar-Athletes by the NAIA.
Concordia University ranks as the NAIA’s all-time leader in number of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes with 1,310 and counting. The Bulldogs have been a regular national leader for both scholar-athletes and scholar-teams and are coming off a 2016-17 academic year that resulted in 78 more scholar-athletes and 19 scholar-teams. The 2015-16 season produced a GPAC best 92 Bulldog scholar-athletes and a national best 20 NAIA Scholar-Teams. The 2014-15 season culminated with GPAC-leading totals of 94 Bulldog scholar-athletes and 17 NAIA Scholar-Teams. During the 2013-14 academic year, Concordia garnered 101 Scholar-Athlete honorees (most in the NAIA) and 17 NAIA Scholar-Teams (tied for fourth nationally).